


New Normal

by csi_sanders1129



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: AU ending, Cold, Comfort, Comfortember 2020, Established Relationship, Hot Cocoa, M/M, Weather
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28162866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/csi_sanders1129/pseuds/csi_sanders1129
Summary: In which all those years of not feeling anything have left Nathan wildly unaccustomed to the fact that Maine is cold.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Nathan Wuornos
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	New Normal

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Comfortember 2020, Prompt: Hot Cocoa. AU Ending where Duke lives and Audrey doesn’t come back as Paige (mostly because I didn’t know all the details of how it ended when I wrote this). Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!

The troubles are gone.

Haven is normal again, or as normal as any town ever really is. There's still _trouble_ , still arguments and traffic violations and teenagers getting high in places they shouldn't. There's still petty crimes and, on occasion, bigger crimes to deal with. There are births and marriages and deaths, but none of those things are affected by superpowers now, at least.

Nathan is normal again, too, or as normal as he can ever really be given the life he's lived up to this point. Living chunks of his life without the ability to feel, dealing with countless impossible situations thanks to his proximity to the troubles – time traveling, coming back to life, fighting forces of nature for the fate of his friends and the fate of the town and, hell, maybe the fate of the world. It's all taken a toll.

Now, for instance. Those years of not feeling anything have left him wildly unaccustomed to the fact that Maine is fucking cold.

He's waiting on the dock by Duke's boat as the snow continues to fall an early February night. It's late enough that it's close to zero already and the wind-chill is edging the temperature steadily downward into the negatives.

"Are you waiting for an invitation?" Duke inquires, poking his head out through the cabin door. "It's freezing, and I know you know that. Get your ass in here already."

Nathan climbs aboard, stomps the snow off his boots, and follows Duke into the warmth within. "Thanks," he says, shedding layers, "Wasn't sure you'd be here. Never know what trouble you're off getting yourself into these days."

"For future reference, so long as you are not acting as an agent of Haven PD, you are welcome on my boat anytime," Duke offers, pulling a mug off the shelf to sit beside the one he'd just downed the contents of. "Also, I'll have you know I haven't gotten in any trouble in at least a week, thank you very much."

He can't resist teasing back, so with a smirk he counters, "Weird, I thought you'd made it to two whole weeks. What don't I know about?"

The easy back and forth between them is familiar in a way that a lot of things aren't anymore. The town is so different now, without the undercurrent of secret family curses lurking in the shadows. A lot of people are leaving now, no longer chained to the privacy Haven had lent their troubles.

"Ha. Very funny," the other man counters, moving around the _Cape Rouge_ 's small kitchen with practiced ease, as the water on the stove comes to a boil. Nathan watches him pour the water into the two mugs and set to stirring. He's expecting some weird tea Duke's imported from somewhere sketchy – probably not coffee, not this late – but he's surprised to find that, when Duke finally hands over the mug (Nathan steadfastly ignores the pirate skull and uninspired 'here for the booty,' text on it), it contains hot chocolate. Duke sips his own drink, adds a splash of whiskey, and asks, "Are you staying?"

Nathan's surprised by this offer a little more than he'd been surprised by the open invitation onto the boat. He sips his hot chocolate – it is very good, and he now suspects Duke might also be importing hot chocolate from somewhere sketchy, too, though like most suspicions he has about Duke these days, it's mostly for his own entertainment. Still, he looks to Duke's bedroom, where he's found himself several times in the months since the troubles ended, and then to the man himself – he finds Duke's eyes on him, and if Nathan didn't know better, he'd almost think… "You want me to?"

"Well, I'd certainly hate to see you freeze on your way back to your place," Duke argues. Nathan can feel his body starting to thaw out now that he's out of the cold and he does not relish the idea of returning to it. Not when there's hot chocolate and a warm bed and _Duke_ here to chase the chill away.

Decision made, he downs the rest of his hot cocoa, (makes a mental note to break that mug if given the opportunity because _damn it, Duke_ ), takes the hand Duke offers, and follows the other man to the bedroom without further delay, reveling in the warmth and the physical contact he still so desperately wants after so long without it, until finally they sleep, wrapped up in the thick blankets on Duke's bed, sated and exhausted and warm and curled around each other.

If this is another aspect of Haven's new normal, of their new normal, Nathan can't say he minds.


End file.
